PORT ANGELES — Dalton Harum had two RBIs, including one on a crucial sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning for the go-ahead run, in a 5-4 Lefties win over Kelowna at Civic Field.
The Lefties overcame some rough defense with good baserunning, a bit of their trademark power and great shutdown pitching. While the Lefties have a formidable power game leading the West Coast League in home runs, they relied on stolen bases to win this one.
The Lefties are in the second half of their season and are off to a solid start with their third win in a row.
Tristan Busse, who has been a beast out of the bullpen all season for the Lefties, pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings to pick up the win, lowering his ERA to 1.59 in 22 2/3 innings pitched. Port Angeles starter Ron Brown gave up just one hit in six innings.
This game was a close one throughout. The Lefties got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning with their baserunning. Justin VanDebrake led the game off with a single, then moved over to third base on a single by Kyle Schimpf.
Schimpf and VanDebrake then pulled off a double steal. Schimpf was tagged out at second base, but VanDebrake was able to come in and score from third.
In the fourth, Trevor Rosenberg and Matthew Christian hit back-to-back doubles for a run, then Harum hit a single to drive in Christian to make it 3-1 Port Angeles.
The Lefties tacked on another run in the fifth with a home run from Matthew Boissoneault, his second of the year.
The Falcons came back with three runs in the seventh to tie the game at 4-4, but the Lefties responded in the bottom of the eighth, scoring a run without the benefit of a base hit.
Another stolen base proved to be crucial in the eighth inning. Schimpf started the rally with a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Christopher Schateen, who moved to second on an error. Schateen then stole third base and that ended up being a big deal because he was able to come in to score on a Harum sacrifice fly.
That one run was enough as Busse shut down the Falcons without a hit to pick up the victory.
The Lefties only gave up three hits all game and all of the Falcons’ runs were unearned as Port Angeles made five errors in the field. Brown gave up three runs, but none of them were earned. He walked three and struck out seven. DJ Sutorius pitched an 1 1/3 innings, giving up two hits and a walk.
Christian finished 1 for 2 with a run scored, a double and an RBI and Rosenberg was 1 for 4 with a run scored and a double. Harum was 1 for 2 with two RBIs and VanDebrake was 1-4 with a run scored and a steal of home.
The Lefties (13-15 overall) played Kelowna (14-11) Tuesday after press deadline. They will play Kelowna a little later than normal tonight, with the game beginning at 7:35 p.m., then take Thursday off.
Lefties 5, Falcons 4
Falcons 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 — 4 3 1
Lefties 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 x — 5 6 5
WP: Busse LP: Hummel
Pitching
Falcons — Churby 5.2IP, 6H, 4ER, 3BB, 3K; Martizia 1.1IP, 0H, 0ER, BB, K; Hummel 0.2IP, 0ER, BB; Richards 0.1IP, K.
Lefties — Brown 6IP, 1H, 0ER, 3BB, 7K; Sutorius 1.1IP, 2H, 0ER, BB, K; Busse 1.2IP, 0H, 0ER, BB, K.
Hitting
Falcons — Orick 1-4; Fish 1-3, SB; Suponchick 1-4; Nixon 0-4, R, RBI, BB.
Lefties — Boissoneault 1-3, HR, R, RBI; Harum 1-2, 2RBI, SF; VanDebrake 1-4, R, SB; Rosenberg 1-4, 2B, R; Christian 1-2, 2B, R, RBI, 2HBP; Schimpf 1-3, BB.
